NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, which was deadlocked in the seat-sharing talks, has agreed to contest together in UP. The Congress has accepted the offer of 17 seats put forward by the SP. The other day, the SP had taken the position that it is not ready for seat-sharing on the India front due to the dispute in some constituencies.

The SP's assurance of giving 17 seats to the Congress has removed the hurdle for SP president Akhilesh Yadav to participate in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Akhilesh had announced that he would not participate in Rahul Gandhi's yatra when there was a dispute over the division of seats.

It has been agreed that the Samajwadi Party will contest in 63 seats and the Congress in 17 constituencies in UP, which has 80 seats. SP had reserved 11 seats for Congress. After the RLD party went to the NDA, it came to a decision to give six more seats reserved for them to the Congress. In addition to the 21 seats contested earlier in the state, the Congress has asked the SP to add three new seats and 24 seats this time. But the Samajwadi Party leadership was not ready to accept this.

Then AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi intervened to resolve the issue between the two parties and persuaded Akhilesh Yadav and then announced that he would accept the offer of 17 seats.

In Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 seats, the BJP was in the running in the last two Lok Sabha elections. In 2014, BJP won 71 seats, but in 2019, the BJP's victory in the state has reduced to 62 seats. The SP leadership said that the BJP, which came to power on the strength of its victory in UP, will walk out this time due to its defeat in UP.